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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented April 9, 1907.

Application filed November 28, 1904. Serial No. 234.481.

Be it known that I, TRUMAN G. PALMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Irving Park, Chicago, county of Cook, and State of lllinois, have inventcd certain new and useful Improvements in Boxes, of which the following is declared to be afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the .accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

The present invention, while susceptible of other uses, relates more especially to the familiar class of wooden boxes in which cgars are commonly packed, these boxes being made ordinarily of different sizes to accommodate twenty-ive, fifty, and one hundred cigars each.

The existing regulations of the United States Treasury Department require that the lids of eigar-boxes shall remain attached to the bodies of the boxes while the cigars are being offered for sale from the boxes. It is the custom oi cigar dealers to display their cigars in the original boxes and ordinarily within show-cases. Hence it is desirable in order to economize space to pack the cigarboxes very elosely together; but because of the existing regulation forbidding the remova' of the box-lids it is impossible to pack the boxes close together with their lids open without the lid of one box covering the cigars of the adjoining open box.

The main object of this invention is toprovide an improved cigar-box that will enable the dealer to comply with the Treasury Department regulations and at the same time display his boxes of cigars in close relation within his show-case or wherever desired. This object of the invention I have accomplished by the features of novelty hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying 'drawings, and particularly set forth in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figur'e 1 is a perspective view of a box embodying my invention. Figs. 2 and 3 are views in vertical cross-section, Fig. 2 showing the box-lid open. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a box (designed for tWenty-five cigars) with the lid raised.

The cigar-box shown in the accompanying drawings is of thin Wood and ofthe shape commonly employed for containing fifty cigare.

The body A of the box has its lid B hinged thereto at its rear edge, as at a, in the usual or in any suitable manner. In the preferred embodiment of my invention the lid B of the box is provided at a point intermediate between its front and rear edges with a hinge b, that may consist of a strip of suitable fiexible material glued or otherwise Secured there to. In the preferred ernbodment of my invention also the inner face of the lid B at a point opposite the hi'nge b is provided with a line or mark b' at a distance from the rear edge of the box corresponding approxi- Inately with the distance between the top and bottom of the body of the box A. The purpose of this line or mark b is to enable the dealer after he has opened the lid of the box to break or sever the box-li d B along the line b' and thereafter turn the lid B back and under the body A of the box, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings-that is to say, the dealer having opened the lid B of the box will break or sever the lid upon the line b', thereby dividing the lid into two sections B' and B the section B' corresponding substantially in width to the heighth of the boxbody A, so that when the lid is folded to the positionlshown in Fig. 2 the lid-section B will extend substantially parallel with the back of the box, while the section B of the lid will extend below the body of the box. Hence it will be seen that when the lid is in the open and folded position (shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings) it will not interi-ere with packng the boxes closely together within the show-case or other situation in which the cigars are to be displayed.

The line or mark b' of the lid B is formed by scoring, cutting, or indenting the lid, thereby forming a Weak bridge-j oint between the sections of the lid, so that the lid may be readily broken or severed in straight line from side to side. Inasmuch as the grain of the wood whereof the lid B of the box is formed extends lengthwise of the box, it will be seen that the severing of the box-lid upon the marked line b' can be readily accomplished.

It is manifest that in carrying out my invention the exact point at which the lid B will be severed may be varied, corresponding to the size and shape of the box, and, if desired, the lid may be formed with a plurality of marks, so as to enable the lid to be broken or severed into a number of sections that can be conveniently folded after the lid has been opened, so as to occupy but little space, and hence not materially interfere with the close packing together of the boxes. filli the box shown in Fig. 4: of the drawings IOO IIO

(which box is comp eratively shallow and designed for holding twenty-five cigars) the sections of the lid are of unequal size, the rear section being narrower than the front section to correspond in Width to the height of' the box, so as to pernit the front section of the lid to be turned under the body of the box when the weakbridge-joint between the lidsections is broken.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a cigar-box, the hinged cover con posed of two separable sections connected by a week bridge-j oint.

2. In a cigar-box, the hinged cover coinposed of two separable sections connected by a Weak bridge-joint, and a hinge extending across said joint.

3. A cigar-box, having a lid hinged at its rear edge to the box-body and scored on a &50,095

line arallel to its rear edge to form separable sections connected by a Weak bridge-joint, and having a supplenental hinge of fiexible material extending over said joint.

4. A cigar-box, having a lid hinged at its real" edge to the body of the box said lid being forined of a single integral piece of wood With the grain extending lengthwise of the box, and said lid being provided between its front and rear edges With a supplemental hinge, and being scored or cut between its front and back edges and upon a line parallel with and opposite said supplemental hinge, to permit the lid to be severed or broken into sections that will be held together by said Witnesses:

GEO. P. FISHER, Jr., FRED GERLAGH. 

